17 results arranged by date

When Mahfuz Anam, editor of one of Bangladesh's most respected newspapers, admitted recently to a lapse in editorial judgment several years ago, he could not have predicted the legal backlash that would ensue. Anam's admission that he published unsubstantiated information accusing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of corruption has led to a barrage of defamation and sedition cases against him, along with an arrest warrant and calls for his paper, The Daily Star, to be shuttered.

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Dear President Jammeh: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent international press freedom organization, is writing to express its concern about a Gambian journalist who has been held by the National Intelligence Agency since July 17.

Bangkok, April 13, 2015--Malaysia's parliament on Friday approved amendments to the country's sedition law, giving the government broad new powers to censor online media, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the legislative amendments and calls on the government to stop using the law to threaten and persecute independent journalists.

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Bangkok, March 31, 2015--Police have detained three editors and two executives of TheMalaysian Insider news portal in Malaysia's Kelantan state and accused them of sedition, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate and unconditional release of those arrested.

Bangkok, February 17, 2015--In an escalating campaign of harassment, Malaysian authorities seized copies of a new volume of political cartoons by Zulkiflee Awar Ulhaque, also known as Zunar, on Saturday, according to news reports. In the past three weeks, police have confiscated three separate volumes of Zunar's cartoons and detained him for four days on accusations of sedition in connection with critical posts he wrote on social media.

Bangkok, September 10, 2014--Authorities in Malaysia should halt their investigation into Malaysiakini reporter Susan Loone who could face sedition charges in connection with a critical article she published in early September, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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New
York, April 12, 2013--Amid growing political conflict that threatens even more
violence in Bangladesh, an editor of a pro-opposition newspaper in Dhaka has
been arrested on accusations of inciting religious tension, according to news reports. The editor
faces earlier charges of sedition as well, the reports said.

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New York, December 19, 2012--CPJ is deeply concerned by sedition
charges leveled against Mahmudur Rahman, the acting editor and majority owner of
the Bengali-language pro-opposition daily Amar
Desh and the paper's publisher, Alhaj Hasmat Ali. The two were charged after
publishing news stories based on leaked transcripts of conversations between a
lawyer and the lead judge of Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal.

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Dear Prime Minister Singh: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Indian authorities' continued abuse of a colonial-era sedition law to stifle freedom of expression. CPJ calls on your government to begin taking action toward repealing the law, section 124A in the Indian penal code, which Indian lawmakers have deemed punitive and outdated.

After intense public pressure, the Maharashtra state
government last week dropped the charge of sedition against Indian cartoonist
Aseem Trivedi. However, Trivedi still faces other charges as his case resumes
tomorrow at the Bombay High court.

The 25-year old cartoonist, who was arrested on September 8, could have been sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of sedition. He still faces up to three years in prison for other charges including violation of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act and Information Technology Act, his lawyer Vijay Hiremath told CPJ by e-mail.